The impact of electromagnetic radiation of mobile phone for lymphocyte activation in vitro

The character of the influence of the electromagnetic radiation (EMR) of mobile phone on the activation of lymphocytes in vitro was investigated. This is important, since modern human is exposed to a complex combination of electric and magnetic fields (EMF) of different frequencies. The object of the study were whole venous blood and lymphocytes isolated from 21 adult donors (aged of from 20 to 55 years) — 10 were healthy donors and 11 were healthy persons 7 days after their vaccination with meningococcal polysaccharide vaccine. In the study the influence of phone’s EMR on the functional activity of peripheral blood lymphocytes was determined by the flow cytometry method with the use of monoclonal antibodies of Beckman Coulter company (by the identification and calculation the number of basic and activated lymphocyte subpopulations). The changes of cytokines production by blood cells exposed to mobile phone electromagnetic radiation were determined in supernatants by measuring their concentration using EIA kits produced by JSC “Vector-Best” (Russia) and LLC “cytokine” (Russia). The results of the study of the effects of electromagnetic radiation of mobile phone on blood cells revealed changes in the percentage of lymphocytes carrying the early activation marker CD69 significantly to be more frequently and were observed with greater intensity in the group of donors which were vaccinated compared to healthy donors. Under the influence of phone’s EMR mean values of cytokine production determined in the supernatants samples did not changed in both groups, but in the group of healthy donors mean values of cytokines production were 1,5 - 2 times higher than in the group of persons following immunization. The increase or decrease in cytokine production under the influence of phone’s EMR occurred regardless of the initial level of its production in the surveyed donor. The changes of the cytokine production (IFNγ, TNFα, IL-6 and IL-8) by blood cells under the influence of phone’s EMR happen individually; this should be considered when deciding on the presence or absence of phone’s EMR impact on the status of lymphocytes.